Telling History in Print and in Digital Form

Public History Student IFPH conference

During the lecture titled “Telling history in print and in digital form”, three public historians hailing from the United States of America elaborated on their experiences in using either digital or printed media to reach a certain public for their research. Firstly, Charles Romney explained briefly the app he developed to give a new approach to the history of cities. He developed a smartphone app that – according to your location in a particular city – gives you information on your surrounding buildings and landmarks. Secondly, he addressed the problem of time. According to Romney, a singular chronology is insufficient to represent the complexity of a given history. He pleaded for the use of multiple chronologies, implemented by the public historian to “create” more complexity for the told history. This was a very interesting point, since most people always expect a chronological exhibit. Nevertheless it is very reasonable that various groups have different ideas, which can result in all kinds of chronologies. Recently historians tend to deviate from the use of one single chronology. However, an anachronic use of time, as Romney called it, makes place for a more complex history and it allows that voices can be heard within the exhibit. This view on how to create an exhibit is therefore a very valuable asset that deserves more consideration than it had up to this point.

The second public historian behind the microphone was Aaron Shapiro, who presented the class project he worked on for the U.S. Forest Service Heritage Stewardship Group. Shapiro and his students conducted research of the past of the U.S. Forest Service by interviewing its (former) members in commemoration of the centennial of the weeks act. Last but not least, Jennifer Koslow showed us the website preceding her upcoming book addressing public health exhibits in the early twentieth century. Numerous questions were asked during this lecture, ‘how can we create a public policy for public history?’, ‘how is this public policy and exhibitions a part of mass production?’, …

They were three very interesting lectures. Nonetheless, they raised a few questions and caused a number of remarks. In two out of the three lectures – being those of Shapiro and Koslow – the projects that were presented seemed to be targeted at a very limited, and mostly academic, public. In the case of Shapiro’s class project, the website they created seems especially interesting for the academic audience of the university’s course on environmental history and for the members and followers of the U.S. Forest Service Heritage Stewardship Group. On the other hand, it seems rather out of reach for a public outside of those main target groups. In the case of Koslow, her website is targeted at the same audience that would read her books, being researchers and followers of subjects similar to the early twentieth century public health exhibits, students and overall people with academic backgrounds. In our short-lived public history tradition at Ghent University, we’ve been taught public history helps academic historians target a broader public in multiple layers of society. In the case of the two aforementioned historians, we can see how their projects can improve the communication of their research to people who would be interested in their academic publications, maybe brainstorming about how to present such research to a broader audience could be an interesting line of thought as well?

Also in Aaron Shapiro’s lecture, we noticed a – for us – interesting usage of terminology. He often referred to the U.S. Forest Service Heritage Stewardship Group as the “client” of him and his class, and emphasized the need to confer with their client to ask for their input in the conducted research. This implies a focus on the functionality of public history, something that is not always as present in the classes we are used to. Later in the lecture, chairman Patrick Moore addressed the students in the lecture hall, asking who wanted to have the job, before emphasizing on the importance of learning specific skills that are valued on the job market. This was a particularly interesting approach to the field of public history, leaving the sheer academic aspects behind for a moment and focusing on the skills and traits required to achieve in the professional field of public history.

Overall, this was an extremely interesting lecture. Particularly interesting was to see how scholars on the other side of the big ocean deal with the questions of history on digital platforms vs. history in print.

Julie Devlieghere

Evelyne Lemahieu

Ruben Vandael

27 thoughts to “Telling History in Print and in Digital Form”

  1. Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I definitely enjoyed reading it, you might be a great author. I will make sure to bookmark your blog and definitely will come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage you to ultimately continue your great posts, have a nice day!|

  3. と思う| | |の束|トン| 合理|}実​​際には非常に論理でした。 しかし、 考える、このに思う と仮定あなたは？追加少し情報 私はではないあなたを示唆している 見出し おそらく 取得 人のより私が意味％のBLOG_TITLE％は記事 グラブ 視聴者 {興味を取得するタイトル。あなたはたりする2 取得 リーダーまたは | について興味を持って興奮 何を と言うようになりました。 私の意見で、それはかもしれない 作るあなた ブログ もう少し面白いです。
    2015春夏新色追加 国内即発 http://mbid.vn/san-24511-184.html

  8. サイト本当にしたい| | このトピックを理解する|} {について調べたいと考えています。 あなたが知っている 全体の多くそのほとんどタフにないこと私は個人的に（あなたと議論たい ）（笑）へ。 あなたは間違いなく 新しいのスピン対象 それがされていますのために| |年間のの年齢のため。 優秀もの、ちょうど偉大！
    3日間限定 最大90％off http://yourchoicebv.nl/san-24848-166.html

  9. 人 必ずしも ヘルプ 記事 私は希望状態 を作成します。 それは |私はあなたが頻繁時間非常に最初の最初 ウェブサイトのページと今まで？ I | 調査とびっくりびっくり | この特定あなたに行わ作る作成 公開 素晴らしい。 ワンダフル プロセス！
    2015春夏新色追加 店舗激安大特価 http://agenziaanimazionefoggia.arbua.it/red-23907-216.html

  13. I blog often and I truly thank you for your content. The article has really peaked my interest. I will bookmark your blog and keep checking for new information about once per week. I subscribed to your Feed as well.|

  16. Just desire to say your article is as surprising. The clearness in your post is simply great and i can assume you are an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission allow me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please carry on the enjoyable work.|

  20. Hmm it appears like your website ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum itt up what I had written and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your
    blog. I too am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to the whole thing.
    Do you have any recommendations for inexperienced blog writers?

    I’d really apppreciate it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.